Friday, May 21, 2010

The maharajah of an Indian province issued a royal decree. He ordered that no one was to kill any wild animals while he was the country's leader. The decree was honored until there were so many Bengal tigers running loose that the people revolted and threw the maharajah from power.

This is the first known instance of the reign being called on account of the game.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

A friend gave us a couple of tickets to a Brewers game recently. It was a fun, fun evening. (And it was even a good baseball game. Triple home-runs in one inning for the losing team. How's that for whacko?)

Being fond of very bad puns, and being in the midst of physics lessons where we're adding a lot of vectors, this one just tickled my funny bone:

An Indian chief had three wives, each of whom was pregnant. The first gave birth to a boy. The chief was so elated he built her a teepee made of deer hide. A few days later, the second gave birth, also to a boy. The chief was very happy. He built her a teepee made of antelope hide. The third wife gave birth a few days later, but the chief kept the details a secret. He built this one a two-story teepee, made out of a hippopotamus hide.

The chief then challenged the tribe to guess what had occurred. Many tried, unsuccessfully. Finally, one young brave declared that the third wife had given birth to twin boys. "Correct," said the chief. "How did you figure it out?"

The warrior answered, "It's elementary. The value of the squaw of the hippopotamus is equal to the sons of the squaws of the other two hides."

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

No doubt, some of my friends will be disappointed in my rejoicing. But here goes anyway...

I have been trying to gain control over my computer addiction. I'm trying to limit my time on Facebook and email discussion-boards. I'm even blogging less -- which drives me a bit batty when my fingers are itchin' to type and empty out my brain into my pensieve.

It so happens that one of the email lists in which I participate has counters of people's posts. When the group started, I was one of the top posters. Last August, in a fit of "I must cut back on my computer time," I determined that I would work my way off the Top Ten Contributors list. That list was a visible and objective way to measure how much time I spend playing online. Within a month or two, I was no longer listed on the Monthly Top Ten List. It has taken since August, but today somebody else finally bumped me off the All-Time Top Ten list. Success! (At least for a day or so.)

Doesn't that just go so nicely with the story of the Emmaus disciples? They were blind to Jesus' presence. But His preaching on the Old Testament showed them how the scriptures were all about His suffering and death, and then they saw wondrous things [that is, Jesus] in the law.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

When my friend Susan comes to visit, she always plays piano and we sing a few hymns together. I love that!

Rumor has it that kickball is frequently played at confirmation or graduation parties for some of our friends.

Rachel's in-laws often play football when the family gathers for celebrations and holidays. They camp together. They foam-sword fight. They DO things.

When I was little, I remember card tables all around my grandparents' house whenever we visited Dad's side of the family. The kids played their own pretend games or board games or played out in the barn. But the grown-ups played euchre.

But my mom's side of the family talked. I don't remember games very often. We'd sometimes go for walks down to the creek. I remember snapping beans and shelling peas while we talked. I remember playing with kittens while we talked. But the activity-of-choice was usually talking.

When we have company, I never think to bring out the Dominoes or Cranium. I seldom have the presence of mind to set up croquet or ladderball or haul out the Belegarth weapons. We just talk. Now, I have no problem with "just talking." But it crosses my mind that other people may find this boring. With a family reunion coming up, we've all been told that we are free to suggest activities or plan an evening's events. But I have no ideas. My version of entertainment is that we sit and talk.

Okay, so I'm boring. So sue me. No, don't sue me. Give me ideas. What do you do with your families?

At the end of Paul's third missionary journey, he knew he was going to face problems when he returned to Jerusalem. Chains and tribulation awaited him. He would end up in Rome. In various ways, the Holy Spirit kept telling him that trouble lay ahead.

So anyway, Paul gives his all-night-long sermon where the poor guy fell asleep and fell out of the window but was raised back to life. Traveling back to Judea on the next leg of the trip, Paul decides to skip Ephesus. (My theory is that he didn't have the time nor the emotional energy to interact with all the people there who loved him so dearly and would want to hear him preach.) But he stops near Ephesus, over in Miletus. He has all the pastors in Ephesus come to him so that he can bid his farewells to them and send them back to their people encouraged in the Word. That day Paul tells the pastors what's awaiting him. He says his good-byes. And he makes this curious statement:

I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. (Acts 20)

Paul murdered people. He had spent his younger days hunting down Christians, rounding them up for trial and even execution. Paul had overseen the murder of Stephen.

As Paul bids farewell to his beloved brothers and sons in the faith, he takes care to tell them that he is not afraid of what's coming for he is innocent of the blood of all men. What Paul had done of his own volition, the sins he had committed against Christians, the offenses he had committed against the Lord -- of all these things he is innocent. The "whole counsel of God" declares things about the sinner --for the sake of Jesus-- that are contrary to what we have observed according to the law, what we earn according to merit.

It is truly something to wonder at.

The sinless Son of God must die in sadness.The sinful child of man may live in gladness.Man forfeited his life and is acquitted --God is committed. (TLH 143)

My kids never got the speech from their dad or me that they needed to "measure up" because they were the pastor's kids. I did care, however, how their behavior reflected on homeschoolers. If we were out in the middle of a weekday, were they being polite and not overly rambunctious? They certainly didn't have to be perfect, but I didn't want them to give people reason to bad-mouth homeschoolers.

I screwed that up the other day.

I was in a group of people I didn't know. We were to introduce ourselves and briefly give people an idea who we were. Well, name and city and "stay-at-home mom of six, still homeschooling the two youngest" seemed to be the best 5-second summation of my identity. Even though there was one other stay-at-home mom, everybody else identified herself by her job (or former job).

And then the discussions commenced. My viewpoint was entirely unlike everyone else's. Entirely! I was the one with the conservative, small-govt viewpoints to the extent that the other women couldn't even understand what I was talking about. And one of the overriding thoughts in my mind was, "They think homeschoolers are so off-the-wall that they shouldn't be allowed to influence children. Next time, keep your fat mouth shut, Susan, and don't let anybody know you're a homeschooler."